Interchangeable game pieces and method of game play

ABSTRACT

A board game that incorporates a playing surface and movable game pieces. In some embodiments the game pieces include a character portion and a movement portion. The character portions may be interchangeable with the movement portions. In some methods of game play, players maneuver their game pieces between regions of the board to attain points.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/718,161 entitled “INTERCHANGEABLEGAME PIECES AND METHOD OF GAME PLAY,” filed Sep. 16, 2005, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates generally to table top board games havingresilient barriers and movable game pieces. Games incorporating suchcomponents are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 742,250, 800,741, 1,051,613,1,599,188, 1,980,105, 2,990,180, 3,174,752, 3,206,210, 3,219,349,3,403,911, 3,762,711, 3,907,294, 3,929,336, 4,017,078, 4,502,686,5,011,147, 5,362,045, 5,516,102, 5,733,213, 5,755,439, 5,893,791,5,976,042, 6,357,745, 6,435,929, D285,943, D370,699, D472,584, andD476,697, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to a board game thatincorporates a board having resilient barriers and movable game pieces.More specifically, it relates to a game in which players may select gamepiece components and maneuver their game pieces between regions of theboard.

The advantages of the disclosed board game may be understood morereadily after a consideration of the drawings and the DetailedDescription.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an exemplary game including a game boardwith barriers and movable player pieces.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of another exemplary game including a gameboard and movable player pieces.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary movable game piece in which a characterportion is coupled to a movement portion using a press-fitconfiguration.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of a press fit configuration suitablefor use with the game piece of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of another press fit configurationsuitable for use with the game piece of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary movable game piece in which a characterportion is coupled to a movement portion via protrusions.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary movable game piece in which a characterportion slides relative to a movement portion to couple the characterand movement portions together.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary movable game piece in which a characterportion is coupled to a movement portion using a hook-and-loopconnection.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a game 10 that includes a game board or table12 and player pieces 14. The game may be played by one or more playersby maneuvering the player pieces relative to board 12 to score points.The game components may be used in table games, such as hockey, tennis,shuffle board, and the like, or with traditional board games.

Board 12 and player pieces 14 may be fabricated from any suitablematerial, or combination of materials, such as plastic, foamed plastic,wood, cardboard, pressed paper, metal, or the like. A suitable materialmay be selected to provide a desirable combination of weight, strength,durability, cost, manufacturability, appearance, safety, and the like.Suitable plastics may include high-density polyethylene (HDPE),low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polystyrene, acrylonitrile butadienestyrene (ABS), polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate (PET),polypropylene, ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), or the like. Suitablefoamed plastics may include expanded or extruded polystyrene, expandedor extruded polypropylene, EVA foam, or the like.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, board 12 may include a playing surface16. Surface 16 may be made of, or coated with, a material having asuitable coefficient of friction to produce a desired amount of movementof player pieces 14. In some configurations, the playing surface may beformed from a variety of materials having different coefficients offriction, depending on the intended uses of the game components.

As shown in FIG. 1, playing surface 16 may at least partially be boundedby barriers 18. Barriers 18 may be formed from a substantially rigidmaterial, a substantially soft material to dampen motion of playerpieces 14, a resilient material to provide a rebound effect when aplayer piece 14 contacts the barrier, or a combination thereof. Barriers18 may therefore be configured to affect movement options of the playerpieces.

Board 12 may be marked with a variety of board indicia 20 or may includea washable surface so that a user may apply his or her own indicia. Forexample, board indicia 20 may indicate a start position 22, upon orbehind which players must place their player pieces 14 beforemaneuvering the player pieces along surface 16. Indicia 20 may indicatean end position or point region 24 to which players attempt to maneuvertheir player piece in order to attain points. The indicia imprinted onthe board in point region 24 may include numbers that directly displaypoint values, pictures that indirectly correspond to point values, or acombination thereof. In configurations in which the indicia arepictures, the pictures may be related to point values in a particularway, such as provided in a look-up chart. In some versions of the game,players may begin the game by assigning point values to each picture,either randomly, such as through a dice roll, or by agreement. Theindicia may provide instructions regarding calculating a point value,such as through a combination of dice rolls.

Board 12 may include one or more depressed regions 26 at the end ofeither or both halves of the board. For example, a depressed region maybe provided on the right side (or starting in exemplary board 12) of theboard to provide a storage region for player pieces 14. A depressedregion may be provided on the left side (or exemplary finish side) ofthe board in place of a barrier. In such a configuration, a player piecewith too much momentum will slide off point region 24 into depressedregion 26.

Board 12 may include score counters 28, as shown in FIG. 1. For a gameinvolving two players or teams, each player or team may record thecorresponding score by moving a counter along a side of the board. Scoreindicia 30, such as text or pictures, may be imprinted or formed on theedges of the board adjacent the counters. The score indicia may beaffixed in a point region by any suitable means, such as printingdirectly on the board, removable and interchangeable sheets, orvariations in the surface structure of the board, such as raisedsegments or ribs. For example, the sides of board 12 may include lines,against which a player may align counter 28. Score indicia 30 may takeany suitable form including, but not limited to, ridges, text, graphics,or a combination thereof.

As shown in FIGS. 1-8, player pieces 14 may include a character portion32 and a movement portion 34. Character portion 32 may be selectivelycoupled to movement portion 34 by a fastening mechanism 36. Thecharacter portions may therefore be interchangeable. In such aconfiguration, players may share movement portions 34 by passing thatportion of the player piece to the next player once a turn is completed.Only a limited number of movement portions may therefore be needed toplay the game since character portion 32 may be used to keep track ofwhich player's turn it is.

One or more dice 38, or other random indicia generator, may be includedin game 10, depending on the rules of the game. The die may be used todetermine whose turn it is, what character portion to use, what pointvalue to assign to indicia 24, or a combination thereof.

Character indicia 40 may be associated with character portions 32 todenote a character associated with each character portion. Characterindicia 40 may be marked on the character portions with a variety ofmethods. The character indicia may be permanently imprinted or sculptedon character portion 32 so that the character portions have permanentcharacter indicia. The character portions may include a character figureextending from an upper surface of the character portion. In someversions of the game, character portion 32 may be provided with awashable surface so that players may create their own character indicia40, such as with markers, crayons, or other removable items, such asstickers.

Movement portion 34 may include a housing 42 and a rotatable component44, such as a roller or ball mounted within the housing. Housing 42 maybe formed from any suitable material to provide a desired rebound effectwith barriers 18 and/or frictional resistance with playing surface 16.Rotatable component 44 may be similar to those used in bearings tocontrol or reduce friction between housing 42 and playing surface 16.

The movement portion may raise the character portion to a height greaterthan that of barriers 18. For example, the movement portion may raisethe character portion sufficiently to restrict contact between thecharacter portion and the barriers. The shape of the perimeter of themovement portion and character portions may be any suitable combinationof shapes depending on which of the movement and character portions maycontact the barriers. For example, the movement portion may becylindrical so as to not impede rebounding of the game piece, whereasthe character portion may not contact the barriers and may be any othershape, such as rectangular, trapezoidal, or square. In some versions ofthe game, the game pieces may be configured to have varied surfaces toproduce unpredictable effects upon contact with the barriers.

Fastening mechanism 36 may take a variety of forms, as depicted in FIGS.3-8 to removably couple character portion 32 to movement portion 34. Forexample, the fastening mechanism may be configured to press, slip, orfriction fit a character portion to a movement portion. In such aconfiguration, an example of which is shown in FIG. 3, the characterportion may have a lip 46 with an engagement edge 48 that extends overat least some of the housing of the movement portion. The interior ofthe character portion may include a telescoping ledge 50 configured toseat against the top of the movement portion. The telescoping ledge maybe located approximately one quarter of an inch from the engagement edgeof the character portion. The ledge may be configured to prevent thecharacter portion from pressing against rotatable component 44, such asby suspending a region of the character portion away from the movementportion such that the character portion does not contact the rotatablecomponent. In some configurations, the fastening mechanism may includean angled region on at least one of the character portion and themovement portion, as shown in FIG. 4. In some configurations, thefastening mechanism may include a plurality of ledges, as shown in FIG.5, that may fit one or more sizes of movement portions.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, the fastening mechanism includes one ormore protrusions 52 extending from one of the character portion and themovement portion and adapted to insert into one or more apertures 54 inthe other of the character portion and the movement portion. Thefastening mechanism may include protrusions, such as posts or rails,that engage with apertures, such as holes, gaps, or slits. Theprotrusions and apertures may have corresponding geometry so that theprotrusions are held in place by friction between the protrusions andapertures. The protrusions and apertures may include flexible extensionsthat expand to retain the protrusions within the apertures. Theprotrusions may engage the apertures in any direction relative to thedirection the movement portion will slide along the playing surface. Forexample, the protrusions may engage the apertures perpendicular to thedirection that the movement portion will slide along the playingsurface. The protrusions may engage the apertures in a directionparallel to movement of the player piece, such as by forming a trackalong a surface of the movement portion, in which an extension of thecharacter portion may engage, as shown in FIG. 7. Any suitableconfiguration, quantity, and shape of protrusions and apertures may beused.

As shown in FIG. 8, the character portion may be joined to the movementportion with a reusable material, such as a hook-and-loop material 56.In some versions, the character portion may twist into or around aregion of the movement portion much like a screw. Other materials may beused such as tapes, glues or putty having low bond strength, magnets,and the like.

One method of playing a table game using the above described componentsincludes providing a game board having a playing surface imprinted withboard indicia; providing a plurality of movement portions and characterportions adapted to be coupled together; coupling a character portion toa movement portion to form a game piece; urging the game piece along theplaying surface from an initial position towards a final position; andtallying points as indicated by the board indicia associated with thefinal position of the game piece. The method may further includeselecting a character portion based on character indicia on thecharacter portion. The points may be tallied as determined by acombination of the board indicia and character indicia. A subset ofcharacter indicia, from which one of the character portions is selected,may be determined by a prior point tally. A greater quantity ofcharacter portions than movement portions may be provided.

During game play, player pieces 14 are pushed from one region of theboard in an attempt to reach another region of the board. For example,in the game of FIG. 1, a player may push his or her player piece fromthe start region in an attempt to bounce the player piece off ofbarriers 18 to move the player piece from the right-hand side of theboard to the left-hand side of the board. In the game of FIG. 2, aplayer pushes a game piece from one end of the board to the other. Theplayer's score may be determined by where player piece 14 comes to restalong point region indicia 24.

In an exemplary mode of play, the game is played by two to four players,typically over the age of six. The object of the game is to be the firstplayer to defeat four bad guys in a row. The game includes a reboundboard, eight movement portions, and eight character portions. Variouscreatures may be printed on the board in the point region.

At the beginning of the game, players choose who their four characterswill be. The character portions are then coupled to the movementportions. Point counters are initially set to zero. The youngest playeris typically allowed to go first. That player chooses one of his or herassembled player pieces and slides it along the board. Players alternateturns until all of the player pieces have been used. At the end of theround, players check to see if any of their player pieces landed on anyof the creatures imprinted on the board. If so, then a power levelassociated with the player piece is compared to that of thecorresponding creature. If the player piece has a higher power levelthan the creature, then that creature has been defeated and thecreature's power level is added to that player's score. If the playerpiece has a lower value than the creature then that player may receivezero points or be penalized, such as by having points deducted from hisor her total score. The first player to reach a predetermined score isthe winner.

In some versions of the game, the character indicia represent weapons orabilities. The board is imprinted with indicia that match a variety ofvillains to a weapon or ability needed to successfully defeat thevillain. Players earn points by maneuvering a player piece onto thecorresponding indicia. For example, a player with the player piecelabeled “Intellect” will need to maneuver the player piece onto theboard space labeled “Lex Luthor—defeat with intellect.”

In still other versions of the game, various combinations of the boardindicia with indicia on the player pieces may determine the resultingscore. For example, a player may obtain points if the player pieceindicia matches the underlying board indicia or if the player pieceindicia is a higher value than the board indicia. For example, if theplayer piece depicting a genie lands on the board space depicting agenie, then the player may be awarded points as indicated by the boardindicia, the player piece indicia, or a dice roll. Points may also beawarded if the player piece imprinted with a value, such as onehundred-fifty, lands on a board indicia associated with a value of onehundred. The player or team with the highest point total after a givennumber of rounds, or the first to reach a predetermined point total, isthe winner.

Although the present invention has been shown and described withreference to the foregoing operational principles and preferredembodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious changes in form and detail can be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. The present invention is intendedto embrace all such alternatives, modifications and variances. Thesubject matter of the present invention includes all novel andnon-obvious combinations and subcombinations of the various elements,features, functions and/or properties disclosed herein. Inventionsembodied in various combinations and subcombinations of features,functions, elements, and/or properties may be claimed throughpresentation of claims in a subsequent application.

1. A movable game piece comprising: a movement portion adapted to enablemovement of the game piece along a playing surface, the movement portionincluding a rotatable component mounted within a housing; a characterportion having character indicia; and a fastening mechanism adapted toremovably couple the character portion to the movement portion.
 2. Thegame piece of claim 1, wherein the fastening mechanism is configured topress fit the character portion to the movement portion.
 3. The gamepiece of claim 2, wherein the fastening mechanism includes a telescopingledge configured to seat against the movement portion.
 4. The game pieceof claim 3, wherein the ledge is located approximately 0.02-0.03 inchesfrom an engagement edge of the character portion.
 5. The game piece ofclaim 2, wherein the fastening mechanism includes an angled region on atleast one of the character portion and the movement portion.
 6. The gamepiece of claim 1, wherein the fastening mechanism includes one or moreprotrusions extending from one of the character portion and the movementportion and adapted to insert into one or more apertures in the other ofthe character portion and the movement portion.
 7. The game piece ofclaim 1, wherein the fastening mechanism is configured to couple themovement portion and the character portion when the character portion ismoved laterally relative to the movement portion.
 8. The game piece ofclaim 1, wherein the character portion has a washable surface.
 9. A gamecomprising: a game board having a playing surface; and a plurality ofmovable game piece components including: one or more movement portionsadapted to move along the playing surface; one or more characterportions; and one or more fastening mechanisms each adapted tointerchangeably couple one of the character portions to one of themovement portions.
 10. The game of claim 9, wherein the characterportions have permanent character indicia.
 11. The game of claim 9,wherein the character portions each include a character figure extendingfrom an upper surface of the character portion.
 12. The game of claim 9,wherein the fastening mechanisms are configured to press fit one of thecharacter portions to one of the movement portions.
 13. The game ofclaim 12, wherein the fastening mechanisms include one or moretelescoping ledges.
 14. The game of claim 13, wherein the movementportions have a rotatable component mounted within a housing and the oneor more telescoping ledges are configured to suspend a region of thecharacter portion away from the movement portion such that the characterportion does not contact the rotatable component.
 15. The game of claim9, wherein the fastening mechanisms include hook-and-loop material. 16.The game of claim 9, wherein the game board includes one or more meansfor tallying a score.
 17. The game of claim 9, wherein the game boardincludes one or more barriers configured to restrict movement of a gamepiece.
 18. A method of playing a table game comprising: providing a gameboard having a playing surface imprinted with board indicia; providing aplurality of movement portions and character portions adapted to becoupled together; selecting and coupling a character portion havingcharacter indicia to a movement portion to form a game piece; urging thegame piece along the playing surface from an initial position towards afinal position; and tallying points as indicated by the board indiciaassociated with the final position of the game piece.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein the points are tallied as determined by a combinationof the board indicia and character indicia.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein a subset of character indicia from which one of the characterportions is selected is determined by a prior point tally.